1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to the packaging and placement of electronic components within a computer system. More specifically, the present invention relates to a method of packaging flexible computer functional islands, which consist of particular integrated circuit devices, in order to provide increased performance and decrease computer size.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventionally, integrated circuit devices (ICs or chips) that constitute specific functions in a computer system, such as memory, graphics adapters, processors, device drivers (keyboard, display, mouse drivers and the like) are mounted and electrically connected to rigid printed circuit cards. These functions are either wired onto circuit cards that are in turn electrically interconnected with the computer planar, or motherboard, or are packaged on the motherboard itself to provide the functions required by the particular computer. It can be seen from FIG. 1 that rigid circuit cards 2 connected to a planar 3, by way of connectors 4, require a large amount of planar space. Additionally, if the functions packaged on these cards are wired onto the planar, the size of the planar correspondingly increases.
In order to decrease the size of computers, and to increase flexibility and performance, flexible cable has been used to interconnect particular printed circuit cards. It is currently known to provide entire computer functions on a single flexible carrier, by attaching a chip or set of chips thereto. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,177,519 and 4,081,898 describe using a flexible carrier with electronic components thereon to manufacture hand held calculators. Further, the manufacture of wrist watches using functional areas is shown by U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,598,337 and 4,064,552. A camera lens including a flexible printed circuit board with chips thereon is described by U.S. Pat. No. 4,990,948. U.S. Pat. No. 4,843,520 shows an electronic circuit module with electronic components attached to a flexible film that is attached to first and second substrates. U.S. Pat. No. 4.104,728 describes an electronic apparatus with a flexible substrate, having a wiring pattern formed thereon which is disposed in a housing. Additionally, U.S. Pat. No. 5,050,039 describes interconnecting plural interconnect boards having chips thereon by using a discrete flex circuit. U.S. Pat. No. 4,997,377 is an adaptor for computers wherein a flexible carrier with a connector on one end is plugged into a microprocessor socket. The microprocessor and additional memory chips are disposed on the other end of the flex carrier, thereby allowing additional memory to be included in the computer system. Furthermore. U.S. patent application "Formulation of Multichip Modules," filed Oct. 28, 1991, having serial no. 07/783,644 and assigned to the assignee of the present invention, hereby incorporated by reference, discloses a method of forming complex areas of computer functions on a flexible substrate.
However, in these prior art systems only single functional islands are attached to the circuit card or planar, or other I/0 connection point. Thus, using conventional computer packaging technology, the different computer functions are provided on either a circuit card, or a single flexible carrier, which is in turn attached to a planar, or motherboard.
Generally, a computer is designed to contain a number of functions (e.g. graphics, memory, device drivers, and the like) and the size of the computer is balanced against the number and capability of the functions included therein.
Therefore, it would be desirable to be able to create a higher performance, smaller and less complex computer by combining a plurality of functional islands, such as graphics or memory islands that are interconnectable and compatible with one another. Additionally, it would be advantageous to have specific types of functional islands that would be interchangeable with one another. For example, low performance and high performance graphics functional islands could be made interchangeable to alter the capabilities of the computer system, depending upon user needs and desires. These functional islands can then be packaged and formed within the computer to drastically reduce the size of the planar and correspondingly decrease the size of the computer product. Additionally, performance of the computer will be improved due to the shorter signal line distances resulting from the compactness of the design.